European Union of Music Competitions for Youth

We believe that music competitions stimulate passionate musicianship. For many young people, they’re a first glimpse of performing in public, playing in ensembles, or of breaking out of orthodox repertoire. Every year, thousands of musicians under the age of twenty-five take part in our competitions.

You’ll find profiles of our latest prize winners here, but the work we undertake is for the benefit of all young musicians, everywhere. Because we believe that the success at a competition is only the first step, we organise the follow-up promotion for the prize winners of our member competitions with concerts, masterclasses and workshops all over Europe and our projects reach audiences across the continent.

We keep our member competitions connected, enabling them to share educational, practical and musical know-how and to boost participation and inclusion. And through our Quality Standards we ensure fairness in our competitions, as well as helping new competitions build up their scope, ambitions, and results.

EMCY's work has received the support of the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.

Are you interested in our work? Click here and find out how you can support us!

We believe that music competitions stimulate passionate musicianship. For many, they’re a first glimpse of performing in public, playing in ensembles, or of breaking out of orthodox repertoire. They foster a sense of healthy self-assessment, can help conquer nerves and instil an electric stage presence, and motivate practise. We believe young people can be inspired by experiencing fresh interpretations and techniques and discovering new works, and make new friends from other European cultures in the process.